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BERNHARD ABELE – THE SLOVENIA EXPERIENCE
28/08/2012
Bernhard Abele recently participated at the SLOVENIAN UNDER 21 INTERNATIONAL GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP which was held at the Levada Golf Course in Moravske Teplice, Slovenia between the 8th and 10th August 2012. The course is a Par 72 and boasts the longest Par 5 in Slovenia with a staggering 598 meters from the White Tees.
Bernhard arrived at Ljubljana Airport late on Monday evening and after a two-hour drive reached the hotel in Moravske Teplice in the early hours of Tuesday. The hotel was great and adjacent to the golf course. Moravske Teplice is a famous spa city in the very far north-east of Slovenia close to the borders of Hungary, Croatia and Austria. The countryside is beautiful with rolling hills, little rivers and beautiful forests. Attached to the hotel is the Terme 3000, a water park complex including thermal pools with hot water coming from a depth of over 1400 meters, some swimming-pools and a fun-park offering some fantastic slides. There is a health centre which offers Thalassotherapie amongst others.
On Tuesday afternoon, Bernhard played a practise round and got a first taste of the demanding course. Not just the length of all the holes, but also the water hazards, bunkers and forest have to be avoided to get a good score. The weather was formidable all four days with glorious sunshine and temperature reaching 25° C.
On Wednesday, Bernhard was put in a flight with a player from Croatia and a player from Slovenia, both boasting a handicap of 6. As this was his first competition abroad, Bernhard was a bit nervous and his first tee-shot ended up slightly to the left in a lateral water hazard. In fact he started the day with a double bogey. But he recovered well, playing long tee shots and some fine approaches ending the first day in 17th position out of 39 players with an 11-over-par. Both players in his flight ended the day 1 shot behind him. Only 1 player out of 39 players managed to play below par.
The next day saw Bernhard in a flight with a player from Serbia and another promising youngster from Slovenia. Bernhard struggled all day with his putting and ended the day with a 13-over par. The player from Slovenia in his flight had a fantastic round and played a 71 (-1) shooting up to 6th position. On the first day this player had played 11 over, like Bernhard. Bernhard lost a few places and now was 25th out of 39 players.
On the last day he was with two Slovenian players and now getting tired after 4 exhausting rounds of golf. He played another 13 over finishing 25th overall. He played a birdie on the very last hole, a long Par 5 with 548 meters in front of a good crowd to finish the tournament in style. Overall, Bernhard managed to play 8 of the 18 holes with a birdie in one of the 3 days and even the 598 meters long par 5 was played in 5 shots.
In his own words “I am pleased with my result since this was my first competition abroad and it was my first time playing the Livada golf course while most of the participants had played the golf course before“.